Always blamed
by Nichira
Summary: What was the point anymore? That is a question Danny have no answers to, he is tired, he is more often then not hurt, and he is blamed for all kinds of things. It still doesn't stop him from saving the yellow guy, even if the pink ghost seems to think Danny is the enemy. Crossover MSA - Danny Phantom.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Danny was tired, so deadly tired. It had been another nearly all-nighter, trying to find and capturing all the loose ghosts in the town. Bitting his lip he thought off how tempting it was to simply stop, stop all of it. To just go back to being one of the many teens and do nothing with his free time. Instead here he is, again standing in front of a situation that was surely going to be blamed on him.

The adult male with funny yellow hair was glaring at him and puffing at his commands.

"Bertrand get out of him."

"Now why would I do that?" It wasn't really a question and they both knew it. He was simply mocking the young halfa.

Danny didn't really care. Or he did care, in a way. The mocking was tiring and actually had become hurtful after having to hear it so many times. But yet he kept up with this cat and mouse game. Not that he had a choice. At least not yet. He bit his lip again, it was going to bleed soon if he didn't stop, but he couldn't help it. Why can't he have a life of his own? Not even his afterlife seems to belong to him.

His thoughts went off on a tangent, his 'friends' had become distant to him. This was of course Danny fault. He is after all the one who had started it by starting to ignore them when they told him to do things. That coupled with how he lately had told them to no longer come with him on any ghost hunts.

Their answer had been to freeze him out. With the exception when they were giving him an endless lecture on why he should do something or why he HAVE to let them come with him on hunts.

But why was that? Why was it he had to take them along when he is the only one fighting the ghost? Why was it that he had to fight them alone? Why couldn't he be given some medicine for his pains? Even if they only do last for a short period of time, it still hurts. Why did he have to give so much of himself to them?

Their method had been rather effective at first to make him bend, but it was becoming easier to ignore it, to ignore them. With every demand and every moment of loneliness Danny was coming closer to finally being free.

He was startled back to reality when a tin can was thrown at his head.

"Are you listening to me at all?"

Oh, Bertrand had apparently said something but Danny had been too deep in his own head to hear any of it. "I'm sorry but I don't really see the point in doing that."

He hoped he had given a good enough taunt, and that the other hadn't noticed how he had spaced out. When he got a hiss and more puff from the ghost possessed man he gave a mental sigh. It had gone through after all. Now, he really should be getting to get that ghost out. Who knows what problems could come from letting him stay in there.

Danny started his fight, first he throw some ecto-balls on the ground near his feet, forcing him farther into the alleyway to corner him better. This thankfully being one of the ones where there was no secondary exit. When he had the other well and secure but still not completely up against a wall he called out again.

"Get out of him."

He sort of expected a 'no' or maybe an insult. What he didn't expect was the sudden rush of blue mist from his mouth, shortly followed by a grab and throw done on him.

The halfa gave out a noise of surprise but was soon back floating straight again, and seeing how there now was a seemingly pissed off, pink flamed skeleton between him and the possessed living male. There was also a blue clad girl standing right beside the skeleton and an odd colored dog growling at him.

Great. This was just one of the things he wanted to avoid. With exception for the new ghost, that was unexpected.

"Go away and there will be no harm." Said the blue one. Danny don't even bother to tell them their friend is being overshadowed. No one listens anyway when he tries to tell them this stuff and him trying that usually just made things worse.

Technically he could do as she says, but that would mean to leave Bertrand the chance to hurt not only the one he is inside of, but also the group as a whole. Danny don't want to see friends that really care for each other to fall apart. Not when he knows how to stop it from happening.

The skeleton growls as he stays his ground. Danny takes a small breath, and attempts to dive around them to get at the yellow one.

Another grab was done on his arm, but this time it **burned**. Tearing his arm free he moves his other hand to the burn. Biting his lip to muffle his sounds of pain he looks at them all again. The skeleton is sort of towering and have now lit up flames in his hands, the girl have some kind of stick thingy as she glares, and the dog's hackles are up.

It's the look that the possessed human is giving him that strengthens his resolve to help. Bertrand is giving him an ugly grin. No point in pointing it out, the expression would be gone in an instant and likely replaced with a fearful one, making the friends angrier.

So Danny keeps on diving. For a second he blinks out of sight appearing more to the left then again to appear to the right. He dodges the fire waves, and observe how the blue one takes the yellow one and goes even farther in. They will hit the dead end soon and that can cause this to turn out really badly. He can't have Bertrand starting to fight too, not while inside a human.

For his next trick he gambles a little. He turns invisible, slips underground and comes up right behind the other ghost and dog. Letting go of his invisibility he gives all his energy to speed towards the yellow male. He hears the yelling from the others, and fell a second burn graze his side. But he gets up to the ones fleeing, and tackles the bad ghost right out of the human.

Finally, with Bertrand out in the open Danny gives him a quick ecto-charged hit to weaken him before capturing him in the thermos.

It is deadly quiet in the alley aside for some disoriented moans from the now free human. Danny doesn't bother to look at them. Doesn't bother to tell them he was only after the ghost. He knew they would blame him anyway. They always do in the end. Though it is a surprise to see living and dead get along as this group is doing, he is still certain it doesn't change who is going be blamed.

So Danny slips underground again and leaves.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I wonder about this Vivi." Said Arthur from the shotgun seat, trying to gain the attention from the groups blue leader who was sitting in the back, leaning over a book. All he got in return was a hum.

Lewis feeling the yellow male's frustration and worry decided to speak up. Trying to also quell his own doubts. "He has a point Vi. Going into what could be the most hunted town in the states, if not the world with how they describe it, do feel a bit risky."

This time they got a little more than a hum, they got a huff. Before either got a chance to say anything else to their fearless leader she said something firsts. "It's because off how they described it that we don't have to worry."

Arthur gave her a look, knowing what was to come next.

"Think about it for a second. First we get that message with a work-offer about some investigation work on a town, that is apparently not simply haunted but **overflows** with ghosts. And then when we looked up on it we get a background off a town that have always boasted about being one of the most haunted places in this country, only to have the reputation from the official paranormal investigation society to be the least haunted place in the world. I seriously doubt that a place out in nowhere would suddenly become so badly overrun by specters, and that while still not being marked by the official channels for it. It will likely come out as another hoax. Wouldn't be the first time this town have done that from what we found, right Arthur?"

Arthur frowned. He knew this argument, they had been having it for a few days now, ever since they got that mail about Amity Park. "There have been fifteen documented hoaxes or pranks from that town over the last twenty years. And there are also other sources that hints on even more things like that going even farther back in time. But that doesn't necessary mean that they don't have a problem at their hands now. Have you seen how much alarms there have been lately from this place? For this last half year alone there have been next to not a single day where someone of this town haven't called out about ghosts. That seems to be a little much for a hoax and more so when the whole town seems to be in on it."

"But have you seen what kind of 'help' they called out for?" Vivi said back. "They got the main groups of rejects from the paranormal society. They have got that extreme speed duo with a gender confusion, that straight up rip-off group with a terrified tiger, and the white dress-code group with an unhealthy obsession for paperwork. They wouldn't have been able to get worse help if so their lives depended on it. And then the white ones have been staying in that town for nearly a year now and there have yet to be any official calls for help to the paranormal investigation society. Those klutzes may have failed from being accepted for the official works but they do at the very least know the obligations to call in more serious cases. Really guys, I completely believe that there is nothing to worry about."

"Then what about the high amount of claims of ghost sightings?"

"Either it's a group of kids dressing up that have managed to frighten people to believe that they sees ghosts everywhere, or they could have gotten one or two real ghosts that they then panicked over, which they there after blow the whole thing out of proportion. That poster you found for example. The one saying that they have put out a million dollar reward on the head of one of their 'ghosts'. Which town in the world would do something like that? I think that it will either be some kids, or one at the highest two real ghosts. This town have always called out about ghosts without having one and now that they believe themselves to have one or two of them for real they have simply gotten spooked."

Lewis had been quiet under the whole argument. This one was more between Arthur and Vivi than him and either of them. Arthur did have a point that the calls about ghosts is a little bit on the high side to be something simple, but Vivi have a point too with how this town have been well known for quite some time for their none existent ghosts. So he have upped to take the more neutral side on this. He would be skeptical about the truthfulness of the alarms, but would still be on the lookout for if there really was anything there. It also meant that he had been careful regarding what he put into these arguments.

"Either way it won't hurt to get out there and see for ourselves what could be causing this panic in that town." Lewis said. "If the problem is a ghost then we will handle that. And if it is general panic, then we will handle that as far as we can and call in others if need be." It wouldn't be the first time if the second was the case that they had to pass on the case to someone else. Someone more knowledgeable in sociology then paranormally.

Vivi huffed before she returned to her book and Arthur simply sighed before turning his attention to the radio and started to mess with that. Lewis kept driving, it wouldn't be much longer now. "Anyway I will have you guy's backs."

Lewis saw Arthur give a small smile and Vivi made a happy sound in the back. The gentle giant was glad that he could calm his friends. Mystery meanwhile slept on in back next to Vivi.

* * *

About three hours later they were finally at their destination, Amity Park, a supposedly nice place to live. Uncertain where to start their investigation or where their employer lives, they decide to cruise around for a bit before moving on foot. It took them about half an hour to find an inn that rents out for ridiculously cheap and allows pets so they check in for a room. There were even a two weeks package for a three room apartment that wasn't to unreasonable, it was actually the cheapest they have ever had for a temporary stay. So for that reason they went with the two weeks offer even though none off them believed they would have to stay in town for that long.

Or in Arthur's case, hoped that they wouldn't have to stay that long. Nothing had happened as of yet and this really do seem like a nice place but he was not going to relax that easily. And the low price had also made him nervous, especially when they got to the rooms and he couldn't see anything wrong with them. The apartment is surprisingly nice and they also found out that the landlord don't count the bathroom inside the room count. Resulting in that their temporary stay have both a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a living room on top off it all. With all of it for the most part being in a decent size. So why had they pay been so low?"

After moving some off their stuff to the rooms but leaving most off it in the van, they asked the receptionist for the whereabouts of the address that they had gotten from their employer. It only took them a few minutes to get a town map with the address marked out for them. Giving their thanks they now had nothing more to do for the day, hence the meeting wasn't until the next day. So they decided that they could get a head start with some on spot investigation in the town.

They found nothing at the library that was too outstanding for a normal town of this size, they got a little more from some of the cafes but it was mostly just normal rumors rather then ones about the supernatural. The marketplace didn't give a lot more either. The talk about ghost or specters was in general low."

"What is this?" Vivi stomped the ground in her irritation. When Lewis tried to calm her she simply got more agitated. "This just doesn't make any sense Lew-Lew. No matter who we speak to or how we bring up the subject no one has anything to say about any spectral activities. Almost as if this town have never even heard about ghosts at all. But yet when we look at the newspapers and magazines around here there is nothing in them but ghost and specters. This doesn't make sense."

Something they could all agree on. Why would a city that constantly calls out alarms about the spectral have an inhabitance that shows no interest in them whatsoever? And even more odd was how there on both the local papers and news have the spectral as a main subject despite this indifference from the people here. Neither had they themselves noticed anything in town to give cause for alarm. They tried some theories for how to explain this weird phenomenon but none could come up with anything plausible. Not even Mystery had any ideas as to what could have caused this.

Deciding that there was nothing more they could do at the moment before speaking with their employer they started to head back to the inn. On the way thought as they walk past a mechanical store Arthur came to think of a part in the van that he had been wanting to fix. So he told the others to go ahead while he headed to the store to see if they had the part that he needed.

He got into the store and after looking around for a while without finding what he came for he decided to ask the man by the storefront for help.

"Hey excuse me but do you know if this store has…" and so he described the item for the man.

"I do believe I have seen that near that aisle." The man walked in front of Arthur and showed the way. Arthur got happy to see that the store did indeed have what he had been looking for.

"Thank you."

"No problem." Something within the man's tone was wrong and when Arthur turns back to him he flinched back. The man was having an unnerving grin on his face. "No problem at all Sir."

Arthur had enough time to register how the man turned from a normal human to a green blob before his world became odd and hazy as he no longer had control of his own body.

* * *

Lewis and Vivi were getting worried, Mystery was nervous too, Arthur had been gone for almost an hour now. Sure he could get really serious when getting new things to work with but this was too long. The store wasn't that far from the inn and he wouldn't have sent them away if he knew it would take long, or he would have sent a message by now if he figured to take more time than first thought. It isn't until after they called his phone and he didn't answer that they had had enough.

So they did the only thing they could at that time, they went out to look for him.

He wasn't at the store but Mystery got a hold on his scent, which they then followed. And barely 30 minutes later they found him, being cornered by a ghost in an alleyway. A ghost that Mystery informed them right away smelled wrong somehow.

No time is wasted as Lewis let go of his human appearance and strode forward, and after snatching the ghost's arm and flinging them away, placed himself between the unknown ghost and his friend. Vivi and Mystery got to Arthur to see if he was okay, and finding nothing wrong with him other then maybe being a little shaken, they turned to the ghost.

Vivi took out her extender with a chalk holder, currently with chalk loaded. Making herself look as intimidating as possible she gave her demand, "Go away and there will be no harm."

For awhile the ghost simply floated there in the air and stared at them. Lewis growled at the ghost but it seemed to have no reaction. Then they dived.

He was fast but Lewis being ready was faster and got them on the arm. And for a few moments the unknown ghost backed off as Lewis towered over them and Mystery snarled, hackles up. The unknown ghost looked to her and Arthur, seemingly ignoring the other two, and after about a moment they attacked again. And there were no doubt in any of their minds who the ghost was after.

Making a quick decision Vivi grasped Arthur and started to run farther down the alley and away from the fight. If she could give them enough off a distance she would be able to make a protective circle. Her efforts seemed thought to provoke the ghost as they suddenly gave even more into the effort of getting to Arthur.

Disappearing and reappearing repeatedly the ghost got past Lewis and Mystery in seconds and took a straight shoot for Arthur. Desperate and angry Lewis throw a fireball at the ghost but only managed to graze their side. And before any of them could do anything else it was upon Arthur and went inside him.

Only to come right back out again. But not alone as there was another ghost in their arms.

Confused yet coherent enough to catch Arthur as he fell towards the ground, she stared at the blond trying to figure this out as he moaned and moved a hand to his head. Lewis is by their side within moments together with Mystery who is nudging Arthur in the side, giving a low whine.

Waking up from the fog, Arthur was both exhausted and disoriented at first, but as both of these conditions let up he caught sight of something down the alley. Noticing this his friends looked down the same way.

The now two unknown ghosts are on the ground before the black-white one hit the slimy green one with a fist encased in green energy. When it looked like the green one was close to dormant the first one took out what looked similar to a thermos and after taking the cap off shot the other with a blue light. When the lights disappeared the green ghost was gone.

They stared as they waited for the remaining ghost to direct their attention back on them, or maybe say something. But they never did either of those things as they dived into the ground and didn't come back up again. Still the mystery skulls waited for some moments before concluding that the unknown ghost really was gone.

Feeling a bit wobbly Arthur tried to stand up to see if he could get stable enough for the feeling to leave. The moment he did it though his friends were upon him, asking what had happened.

He gave them a run-down off the events. From when they separated to when he got possessed. Lewis growls at the possession part but that changes into worry, which he shared with Vivi and Mystery as Arthur continue to describe the actual possession.

"It was like when you look through a fogged bathroom window. I wasn't completely pushed into the darkness but I wasn't forced to see everything either. And I could somewhat feel what the ghost was doing too as well as hearing everything, but as if through a really thick blanket. I have never had a possession that odd before."

"Are you okay?" Lewis said.

"Yeah, that is another thing to. I always feel awful after forceful possessions like that, but aside from being a little unsteady on my feet I'm feeling fine."

Vivi worried her lip for a bit before saying, "Okay guys, lets get back to the apartment for now. Lewis you carry Arthur, and no protest from you mister noodle," she pointed to Arthur, "you might think you are fine but I want Mystery to check you before anything else, just to be safe."

Knowing there is no winning that argument with either the blueberry or the purple giant, Arthur let himself be picked up and carried all the way to the apartment. Once there he got put on the sofa as both Mystery and Lewis went ahead in checking that nothing was done to mess with his soul.

While they do that Arthur recalls one thing from the experience with the ghost. Noticing how focused his friends are on helping him he doesn't want to interrupt them but he felt what he had noticed to be important. So he nudged them a bit until he had their attention. "I don't think that the other ghost, the black one, wanted to harm me. My memories are more disconnected from this than usual when I'm allowed to remember, but I think that the child really were just trying to help me."

And thinking a bit on it the others came to the same conclusion, based with what they themselves had seen in that alley. Either the way there is two things that they knows for sure now. The first being that there really is a case for them in this town, and the second being that they needed to find that black ghost, if for nothing else then to apologize. Both for the burns Lewis gave him that was now making the purple ghost feel awful for having done so and for not noticing that they were nothing more than a child.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 MSA pov.

"How could I do something like that?" Lewis was sitting on the bed with his head in his hands.

After they had gotten back to their rater luxurious rented home they had done a complete checkup on Arthur, even made him drink some saltwater to get rid of any lasting residue of the ghost. And promptly after they were done, and the situation was judged as safe, Lewis crashed. He crashed so badly that he returned to his skeleton appearance. It was rare for it to be the gentle giant to end up in this kind of state, usually it's Arthur who does that.

Both Vivi and Arthur sits down beside him on either side, Arthur sitting on his left, and they softly and gently touches his shoulders. "Hey big fella. What's hurting you?"

Lewis at first shook his head before sighing, removing his hands from his face he looked to the side to glance at Arthur. "I hurt them…" both Vivi and Arthur waited, giving him a chance to word what he needed to say. "When he dived for you again I didn't just grab him, I burned him."

"You didn't know he was trying to help Lew. Neither of us knew that Artie was possessed."

"That doesn't excuse the fact that I burned a child. Even if hostile I should know better than that, but I didn't even care to really look at him back then, so I didn't notice. Not until after everything was over." Lewis went back to covering his face as he grieved.

"So, so, so, shhh. It will be alright, tomorrow we can look for him and make sure he is okay and you can apologize then. It will be okay." Vivi kept shushing Lewis while hugging him and rocking them both gently. Arthur meanwhile never removed his hand but instead started to rub circles on either Lewis shoulder or back. It took some time but Lewis did calm down somewhat, enough to uncover his face and bring both his friends into a bear hug to nuzzle them both.

"I would also like it if we found that child as soon as possible." Mystery's voice was so unexpected that he nearly made his kids fall off the bed in surprise. The one to recover first was of course the blue leader.

"Why is that Mystery?"

"Because, besides the need to apologize to the child, I still don't know what was off with his scent."

"Huh?" said Arthur.

"Ah, sorry Artie. When we first found you and the kid ghost Mystery said that something was off with them, that he smelled wrong." She looked over at Mystery, "What was wrong with it?"

"As I said, I don't know. That is why I personally want to find them. He smelled of being a ghost yet at the same time he didn't, it's hard to describe. The only thing I can say really is that whatever it was I smelled on him, it was something that doesn't belong on a ghost."

"Okay." Was Vivi's response before she yawned. "I don't know about you guys but I'm beat. Let's get to bed, everyone." She got a better hold on Lewis arm and practically dragged him to the center of the bed. "At least there is one bed big enough for all of us here. Arthur you lay on Lewis other side, tonight Lew-Lew will be the meat."

"Vivi!" came Lewis indignant voice.

"Shhhh."

Arthur laughed quietly as he did as he was told. Nuzzling up to Lewis side so much he was almost laying on top of him. Lewis on reflex moved so he could hold onto both of them. Giving a huff on Vivi's little more dirty reference to food and Arthur's laughter. "I love you. Both of you."

"We love you too Lew." Came the synced answer.

Soon both living humans where asleep while the specter rested in a meditative state. Mystery found a nice spot on the cough to sleep.

Next day they all went up early, or early in the mind of Vivi. Grumbling she took the offered plate with pancakes from Lewis who had full control of his human facade again. "If it wasn't for your food being worth it none of you would see me before a saner hour."

"Seven in the morning is a sane hour Vivi."

She simply grumbled some more before moving over to her seat at the table. Arthur when he came into the room wasn't much better, he at least didn't think the hour was too early. Instead he saw himself as lazy. And even more so when he couldn't function properly without the caffeine from either a cup of coffee or an energy drink.

"Sorry…"

"There is nothing wrong with being tired in the morning Arthur." Lewis repeated the phrase that he repeats nearly every morning. He was determined to make it that one day Arthur would go into the kitchen in the morning and not start the day off with saying sorry.

Arthur received his plate and sat at his place at the table. Lewis put one more plate with pancakes out on the floor for Mystery to eat. The dog waved his little tail and began to gobble down the goodies. The specter sat beside his friends at the table and waited for them to finish. Vivi was first like normal. She put her hands down on the table and exclaimed.

"Okay. Our plan for today is to find the kid ghost from yesterday, or both ghosts, so we can apologize to one of them and beat up the other."

Arthur gave her a quizzical look before swallowing and giving some of his own thoughts. "Have you forgotten that we are supposed to meet our client today?"

Vivi stared into the open for a moment before huffing and puffed out her chest. "We meet up with the client, hear what they want and then we can prioritize finding the kid from before."

Arthur hummed as he went back to eating, while it was important to do their work he also wanted to see the kid. If nothing else to say thanks for the help and maybe to ask why he wanted to help him to begin with. Lewis hummed also, thankful he hadn't needed to remind the others of the objective for the day. He too had pretty much forgotten what their original plan for the day had been before Arthur mentioned it.

So after they were all done with breakfast and their morning routine, and Lewis made sure his sunglasses covered his black-pink eyes properly, they were on their way. It didn't take too long finding the right part of the town but it proved to have been an good idea to ask the day before for direction. For while the right part was easy to find the exact building was not as easy to locate. This was clearly the more poor part of town and the streets weren't well marked. But they still made it to the place on time for the meeting. Knocking on the door it was opened by a female teen with dark skin and pretty fluffy hair. She didn't even ask who they were as just the sight of them made her grin brightly and all but shooed them into her home. She cringed a bit on Mystery though, didn't appear to like canines too much. Mystery simple put his nose up in the air at her behavior.

"You are that professional ghost hunting group right?"

"Paranormal investigators, yes." Vivi corrected.

"Yeah, yeah. But you still do go after ghosts right?"

Vivi made an annoyed noise but confirmed, that yes, they 'goes after ghosts' too. She had a feeling she wouldn't particularly like this one. Neither did the others of the group.

The teen walked into a small living room with ratty furniture's and sat down on the old couch. The gang followed slowly and sat down on various places, anywhere that they could really. Being the leader Vivi took the controls of the meeting.

"As you seem to know already, we are the Mystery skulls. Professional paranormal investigators. Now-"

"I know that already. So-"

"I wasn't done yet." Vivi said. The blue leader was feeling more annoyed then usual and this teen wasn't helping. "Now, as I was about to say, we came here by a contact of Valerie Gray. Would she happen to be living together with you or is she a relative?"

"No," the girl grinned big at them again "that's me. I'm Valerie Gray."

They all stared at her for a moment before Vivi rubbed the bridge of her nose from a growing annoyance. "You are Valerie Gray?"

"Yes." The girl sounded a bit annoyed herself and she wasn't grinning anymore.

"We had the impression we were working with an adult. An adult and a professional in the paranormal who needed help."

"Hey!" the girl stood up, scowling. "I am old enough and I AM a professional."

"Are you now?"

Arthur was nervously looking between Vivi and the girl, Valerie. He knew that while Vivi would never cause serious harm to a kid, it wasn't the same as that she wouldn't hit the kid if annoyed enough. Lewis was in a similar state and while he stayed at the ready to intervene if need be, he could understand Vivi's irritation. She never liked it when a client withhold information, especially when it came to the age of the one that wanted to hire them. It wasn't that they would ignore requests from minors, it's just that things becomes complicated when someone that don't have the legal rights to it tries to officially hire them anyway. Those jobs are usually things they only take if A; the child's parents or parent could be convinced to be the contractor B; if the team have free time and takes the case free of charge or C; if the situation is serious enough that it needs to be taken care off right away. So far none of these conditions has come into play from what they had seen and Vivi knew this.

The girl tried to say something but Vivi was faster, putting up a hand in the air. "It doesn't matter. We can't agree to you hiring us-"

"WHAT! WHY NOT? I have the money for it-"

"IT DOESN'T MATER. It doesn't matter whether or not you can afford our services, you are not legally old enough to do so."

"What the hell? So you are just going to run away from this town's disaster then?"

Feeling her arm twitching and her legs tensing she stood up, if only to rain in some of her temper. Noting how both her boys get more alert in care they need to restrain her from being rash, she take that as comfort. "Will you be quiet and listen until I'm done? As I said, we can't take a job under your name due to the legality behind it. But that doesn't mean we are going to up and leave. Yesterday as we had newly arrived a few things did occur to give us potential cause for concern. So whether or not someone hires us we have enough to do a first investigation. And if something do show up as more serious we will either get the mayor here to hire us to take care of it, or send it in to the officials to send someone in."

The girl huffed and crossed her arms but did sit back down again.

"Thank you." Said Vivi and seeing that there would be no more problems with the other female, she sat down too. "Now, since you where the one who did call us out here I assume you have some idea of what more exactly this town would need our help with."

At the more business like tone and the shift of conversation Valerie brightened again. She nodded before she started to speak. "For about two years now this town have had an increasing problem with ghosts. They started small with one ghost here and there but then it grew worse. Three times now there have even been ghost invasions in this the town."

Arthur frowned. "I'm sorry to butt in but if it really has been that bad how come you haven't gotten any help before now?"

"Because. In this town we already have a lot of ghost hunters who can handle it. Or would be able to handle it as soon as we get rid of the real problem."

"Real problem?" Lewis asked. "You don't mean that the ghosts would be the reason to call us?"

"Don't be silly, of course the ghost are the problem. They ruin everything in this town on a constant. But you see amongst the ghosts there is one ghost who is the cause of all of this. If it weren't for it being here none of the other ghosts would show either, or would at least be easier to take down."

At hearing this all members off the Mystery Skulls sat to attention. Vivi with sharp eyes again took control of the conversation. "You mean to say there is a mayor here?"

The girl looked confused as she stared at Vivi. "What does the town mayor have to do with this?"

"Wha- No, not the town mayor. Just, look, in the paranormal field we have a term called 'mayor', this is used for an entity that takes control over other entities. Either to widen their territory as they get stronger or only to gain more power. These are more dangerous than normal entities as they as a rule is usually more hostile and are harder to get rid once they have assembled a colony, since then they can simply sacrifice their captives to get away. Are you sure that you have one of those here?" Vivi really hoped they didn't, she wasn't lying when she was saying they are both more dangerous and harder to do anything about.

"Yes. That thing has to be one of those things, with how it always brings more and more ghost here while bringing more destruction on the town. There is almost not one day anymore that someone doesn't catch sight of that thing, all the others are sporadic in when they are around but not that one. It's always here." Valerie was obviously lost in her own rant but it didn't change the grave fact in what she was saying.

"How many does it have control over?" asked Arthur, while Vivi was undoubtedly the leader he was faster in thinking of these kinds of problems. He was after all the one to slow the others down enough so he could find out what exactly they were up against.

"Sorry what?"

"How many other ghosts does it currently control? Do you have any knowledge of this?" Arthur repeated his question while his teammates listened intently for the answer.

"Don't know for certain… but there is a punch of them. There is the mechanical ghost with weapons, the one that throws around food, one that destroys anything electronic, the one on a motorcycle with a creepy shadow thing, a warden, the nightmare one, and then that useless but annoying box ghost. And that is only a few of the recurring ones. There is a lot more that have come around once or twice to wreak havoc."

This was sounding more and more like situation C, a case that they couldn't ignore. Lewis spoke up, "What have those living inside the town done about this? When we asked around on the square about it no one really had anything relevant to say."

Vivi perked up at the mentioning and added her own thoughts too. "And another thing, while no one said anything of worth the papers had seemingly nothing but that subject in them. Why is that?"

"As I said earlier, we have gotten ghost hunters that are managing to control the worst of it. We just haven't succeeded in removing the main problem. And for your second question," Valerie turned to Vivi at this and with an angry scowl, "that's because that mayor thing have been tricking everyone to believe that it's good."

At the confused look from both Vivi, Arthur, Lewis and even Mystery she explained. "In this town there are not simply constant occurrences of ghost attacks but also fights. And for a multitude of these that **Thing** is always there. It's obvious for anyone with a trained eye that it's that **Thing** that brought the other ghosts and started the fights to begin with. But every one of those living in this town have bought that ghost's lies and goes as far as to believe **IT** is the reason that we haven't yet been completely overrun by the ghost pests."

The adults glanced between one another. This sounded really odd for the behavior of a mayor type entity, but they guess it wouldn't be impossible for something of that line to happen. Unlikely maybe, but not impossible. Focusing on the girl again Vivi coughed before asking the relevant question needed. "Do you have a description on the entity?"

"Oh, yeah. Actually, I have something better. Wait here." She disappeared off to another room and came soon back with a paper in her hand. "This should do." She said in triumph before slapping the paper down.

Leaning over it and the table the Mystery Skulls saw a picture. Showing them a ghost child dressed in a black and white jumpsuit. "He was called Inviso-Bill when he first showed up, but had a name change some time back into Danny Phantom."


	4. Chapter 4

P.I society will be standing for the paranormal investigation society.

* * *

Chapter 4 MSA pov

It was about two hours and an half later that the Mystery skulls left Miss Valerie Gray's home. Nearly two hours straight about how 'evil' the ghost boy is. And the team found the whole ordeal confusing, at first, then an underlying suspicion arouse that Miss Gray might not have been as unbiased as she claimed to be. But she never mentioned anything that completely cemented that suspicion.

One thing was for certain though, and that was that something bigger than usual is going on in this town. They had already seen two ghosts since coming here, and that was without even trying to find them, were one of them is claimed to be an overall regular ghost to catch sight off in the area. And then there is the fact that the very idea of ghosts is the accepted norm among the inhabitance, if they are to take the magazines discussion subject in consideration.

They already have a first glance investigation from before but they will have to do a more detailed on if they want to find out what is really going on here. And judging from their interview with Valerie they might have to work in sorting out what is prejudice and what is real, depending on whether or not she is the only one with that kind of opinions in this town. Either way, it is unlikely that they will be leaving any time soon.

Arthur suggests their next act of action, "First we should clear up what information we really did get from Valerie Gray."

"She spent two hours of our time repeating her opinion on the child ghost," said Vivi, "Without any real proof for anything she said. I don't think we can trust that source to much Artie."

Arthur snorted. "I know what she said Vivi, and I do agree with you on the other. But neither off that changes that we will need to make clear if her statements are either true or false, as well as get prof for what we find so we can prove why we debunked her statements."

"Or what part she said really is correct," Lewis chimed in, "Just because a lot of what she said is likely to be wrong doesn't necessary mean all of it was. Take those invasions she mentioned, I don't doubt hear that there was some sort of temporary increase of ghosts in town but it might not have been as badly as she described it."

Vivi nodded and hummed. "And we need to take stock of those hunters she mentioned. The P.I society haven't found out about this yet or we would have known some of this before getting here, so the hunters she mentioned can't be officials."

"Likely someone with a strong fascination for these things, "said Arthur, "or possibly some freelancer thinking he could earn some fast ones with these conditions. But that last one should be unlikely seeing how most freelancers goes through the P.I society at least once to be registered. Anyway so should we be able to find some of the answers in the liberally in town since they should have the older in town newspapers. Possibly something on the net too but we will have to file out what is really from this town, the hoax from here have sort off made Amity a popular thing to make fan-material off."

Vivi, Mystery and Lewis all nodded. Vivi brought up the next thing on the list of concerns, "There is also the hot-spots places she mentioned that we will have to checkout, see if there is any connections between them that is attracting the specters. One of them is the school meaning that if the ghost really are that active then someone among the adults should know which paranormal investigators are here, and where they stay."

"Unless they are working incognito."

Vivi rose a brow at Arthur. "Why would they do that? Either there are here due to fascination or wanting to help. Neither would require them to hide." Arthur just shrugged.

"Then there is Danny," Lewis said, referring to the ghost child they met the other day. "We need to find him. Not only to apologize but also in regard to Valerie's claims. I don't think she is right about him being a mayor nor a trickster. He didn't have control over the other ghost and seemed more interested neutralizing it. And he never once tried to gain our attention in a sense off communication to tell us that he wasn't the threat. He also simply left afterward. So I highly doubt Valerie being right at those points. But we should still see if the child really is involved in the influx of paranormal actively in this area. That one could possibly have some truth in it but we would have to research about him to make certain of that."

"Then we should head for the library first," declared Vivi. "We can find out exactly how bad things have been in this town from the older papers and maybe some information about the kid. The information could be of use anyway when we ask the others who are working on this here."

"I'm a bit concerned," Mystery spoke low so as not to drag any attention to them, "about how she spoke of those working with specters in this town. Did anyone else notice how she kept saying 'hunters' rather than investigators?"

Vivi groaned at this. "This better not be like in Skiddy, with the fake ghost hunters. It was a nightmare."

"It was not fun to calm down the ghost that they had provoked." Arthur shivered at the memory. "But what are the chances off something that stupid happening here? Anyway, going back to the specters in this town, we need to find out what have caused them to show up. One thing Gray was adamant about is that this all started recently."

Lewis hummed. "So either something spiritually have changed."

"Or someone did something." Vivi filled in. "Either way," she struck a pose, "to the library."

Nothing happened while the made their way to the library, and once there they started to seek all newspapers relating to ghost within the town for the last two years. It did not take long before they run into things, specifically about a white haired child ghost.

"There really doesn't appear to have been anything wrong with this town, up until two years ago." Lewis said as he poured over an old paper. "And look here," he pointed to a picture of a hole in the road and surrounding damages, "this article is about right before they started to write 'ghost attacks' in the papers. In this one they speculate that the damage somehow would have been caused by either a localized gas leak or a homemade bomb of some kind. Yet looking at a picture of a near identical damage that happen about seven months later they have visual evidence that it was spectral in nature."

Arthur looked up from his place at the library computer. "So the change was drastic. From no paranormal activity to worrying high amounts. Yet I can't seem to find anything clearly reported from that time to indicate a reason for it. No major moves of any graveyards, no unusual rise in tearing down older or newer buildings, no accidents. Whatever this is about it doesn't appear like any normal media picked up on it."

Vivi grunted from the table near Lewis. "I have found a few things about our mystery kid."

"Mystery kid Viv?" Arthur raised a brow.

"We can't very well keep calling him ghost kid, with this high amount of paranormal we are running the risk to find other ghost children. And I am not trusting the name we got from the girl, not when the first name he got from onlookers was Inviso-Bill. But these articles of him are weird."

"The old or new ones?"

"Both. Look guys." Vivi spread out a number of papers so all four could see them. "Most of them is similar to the newer ones. He is seen either flying around seemingly the whole town, or he is fighting with other specters. Yet there is a lot of spread out smaller articles that are convinced that he is bad or even responsible for the ghost influx to begin with. But the only thing supporting that are these older ones." She pointed to some papers at the utmost right.

Lewis tilted his head to the side at one article before picking it up. " **Ghost kid attacks mayor**." His brows furrowed. "This doesn't sound like the child we met yesterday."

"Right, it doesn't does it? And that is not the only odd one, this one here describes him stealing from a bank and there is supposed to be a video on it."

Arthur picked up another article about the kidnapping. Scrutinizing both the text and picture he found something out of place. "Hey Lew can I see your article real quick?"

"Huh? Sure."

Giving it over Arthur starts to compare something between the one he had and the one Lewis gave him.

"Is something off Artie?" said Vivi.

"Not sure Viv but I might have something. Can you guys help me play out this scene?

"Of course Arthur. What do you want us to do?" said Lewis.

"Well can you help direct us so that we stand like in the picture?" He said to the giant before giving him the articles, "With Vivi as the ghost child and me as the mayor." Agreeing to it they soon stood with Lewis at the side, Vivi standing slightly in front to Arthur's side with one off her arm's sort of slung behind his shoulders, while Arthur had his arm crossed over her shoulder and throat. "Okay, now Vivi I want you to try to drag me away."

And she tried, and tried, and tried some more as she couldn't seem to get Arthur to move. She did everything from shoving to pulling but he wouldn't budge.

"Artie how am I supposed to move? You have me in a fricking headlock."

"And that is the problem isn't it. I'm supposed to be the mayor right now, the one that's presumed to be kidnapped in that picture. But even with supernatural aspect accounted for, that a ghost could be strong enough to lead someone away like this, it still wouldn't make sense for anyone to take a hold like this one." Arthur let Vivi go, and they even tried to swap places since the mayor were shorter than the kid but even then, the one playing the ghost just couldn't move the other.

"Doesn't this mean it was the mayor that did the kidnapping?" Lewis ask and Vivi frowned.

"That doesn't make sense either. How does a human kidnap someone that could just stop being material?"

Arthur turned back to a more untouched stack of newspapers, and looked around until he found what he what he was looking for. An explanation, one that unnerved him greatly.

"This might shed some light on it. Look at this article, this was happening at the same time as that one." Giving it over for Lewis and Vivi to see too.

"…A ghost infestation? How did that happen?"

"Don't know Vi but if this really did happen then why did it happen and how did the fact off having happened stay in Amity Park. Something this big should have been noticed."

"Okay," Vivi closed her eyes for a moment in concentration. "So if this was going on at the same time with the other event then it may not have been the actual mayor who did it, but rather another ghost, who at the time was possessing the mayor. But why would a ghost attempt kidnapping another ghost? And while possessing a living at that. Arrg, this isn't making any sense."

Frustrated Vivi put the paper back on the table before picking up another. Meanwhile Lewis pondered something before looking at the first article again. "Maybe the other ghost were trying to frame the kid."

Both looked up at him with sounds off confusion.

"Well the article says quite clearly that the mayor called out for help before being dragged into the town halls. But with the suspicions of him having been possessed at the time, it would mean that the ghost is the one who called out." Even as the idea did sound well thought, all of them wondered the same, for what reason would or could a ghost frame another for. Had the child ghost somehow annoyed the ghost so badly that it felt the need to get back at him? Or was it that they knew each other when alive and had an issue from back then. And so was it that ongoing infestation at the same time that sounds to convenient to be a coincident.

Whatever the reason they would have to search deeper into it, talking with the people that had been there at the time and maybe one of the local ghosts if they found one willing to talk. Putting it aside they started to look at the other more known incident with the ghost child, the bank robberies and the jewelry store theft.

After some looking around at the articles they didn't find a lot actually. Arthur's hands carded through his hair. "All the paper really tells us is how witnesses describe him as he made it off with the loot. That and when he shot at the police with spectral fire."

Vivi waved another paper. "This one brings up the video of it. I think we will have to look at it if we want to know more about this."

"What even happened with the money and the other stuff taken?" Lewis asks, "There is not like he would have much use for any of it."

"Ah, I have something," Arthur showed an article from Amity-Park-Angle newspaper, "It says here that all the stolen goods and money were found at Circus Gothica's train along with the headmaster."

Mystery blinked before whispering up. "If that is the case we can likely assume that he either worked together with the ghosts or somehow manage to make them do it for him. Unless there is more in that paper about him I think we will have to try to find what we can about the circus along with that video of those crimes. Anyway, if the money was found together with a living, how come the ghosts still have the bad rep for the whole thing? I don't remember Gray mentioning anything about a living person's involvement with that incident."

It's true, they remember her bringing that incident up as 'proof' for the child ghost being evil, but she never once mentioned any human in the story. Other incidents showed the same tendency, the child was there when something mayor or minor happened, but seldom where there any evidence really showing that he would have been the cause for it. An incident with a plant thingy, the Christmas incident and one even described-

"What the frick? The **whole town** got **dragged** into another dimension?!"

That one was a baffler and raised another question altogether. "Hey Art."

"Yeah Viv?"

"Didn't you say earlier that the white clad idiots are in this town?"

"The G.I.W.? Well yeah, last I checked before we got here, they were here. If I'm not wrong they are even supposed to have an office put up in town."

"So, even after all this and knowing that it is way, way past small stuff, they have still not given in **a single word** about this to the community?" Vivi's voice had a dark edge to it that had both human, ghost and dog backing away. "Oh are they in trouble when we get hold of them. Lew-Lew put it on our to-do list to speak with the ding-dongs." The ghost obediently nodded his head. Vivi took a deep breath before continuing. "Anyway, what we have found so far is that a lot of things have happened in this town for the last two years, and a lot of it have in some way or form been blamed on this one ghost, yet there is nothing in the papers that actually proves that is how it happened."

"What we need to do is find out what the real deal with the kid is, why there are so many ghosts in this town and why they are so angry, and we really need to find those 'capable hunters' and see what they believe they are doing. But before we leave here, we should watch that video. Artie?"

"Have it right here, also found one commercial video from the circus involved in the crime case."

"Great let's play them."

They all stood so they could see the computer, Mystery in Arthur's lap. The first vid was from outside the vault of the bank, first comes the ghost child out from the vault, shortly followed by three other partly transparent ghosts. The child notices the camera at that point and after getting up close destroys it.

Leaning back Arthur is first to talk. "Well that do undoubtedly look like the kid…"

Lewis bend closer, "Hmm, but he seemed off somehow. Didn't he?"

Arthur looked to him. "How are we to know? We only met the kid once… That aside, you're right that this is quite different than the impression I got off him yesterday."

"And his eyes are all screwy."

Both males and dog turn to Vivi. "What?"

"His eyes. I don't know if you got to see them before Arthur, but for me and Lew they were green. Not red."

Arthur turned back to the computer and moved the video to the moment right before it ended. "You right. His eyes are the wrong color in here."

And when they brought up another vid to make certain it became obvious that his eyes should have been green. Using the reasoning they had before the most logical would be that the child either had been framed again, or that the circus headmaster may be more directly involved then what they even though before.

So they decided that they would watch the commercial for the circus in question and they got as far as to the 'clown that never smiles' when a voice called out.

"DON'T WATCH IT."

Vivi, Mystery, and Arthur all look over their shoulders at the ghost child that is currently floating besides one of the bookcases. Not knowing or understanding what they shouldn't watch one of them was about to ask the kid when a murmur arouse from Lewis.

"Go over to the dark side."

"Watch out!"

Then hell broke loose. Mystery is fast down on the floor and Vivi turns to her boys as suddenly the big one is no longer looking human but is glaring down on them both until his eyes settles on the one closes to him, Arthur. He reaches down to him with one hand and a fire in the other and it is obvious what he is about to do.

Then Lewis is being body tackled by the kid who calls out to the others in the room, "Turn that thing off. NOW." Turning his back to them as he and their friend, that now have red gloving eyes, stands up a good few feet away from them. He tries to strike the kid with a fire covered fist but the kid hurriedly put up some kind of shield.

As fascinating as a ghost fight could be they, Arthur and Vivi, where more worried over their friend. That's why Arthur did not hesitate in yanking out the cord, shutting the computer down all together. But Lewis continued to have red eyes and kept on with attacking the much smaller ghost.

"Why isn't it working?" Vivi tried to move closer but the kid called back not to.

"Okay buddy, I'm sorry if this will hurt but I'm pretty sure you don't want to hurt anyone." That was all the warning given before the child collected up a medium big ball off green energy in his hands and **pushed** it into Lewis chest. There is a smaller explosion and Lewis got slung into a nearby wall.

The kid didn't move or say anything, he only stood there ready for another attack. But it never came as Lewis groaned and looked up with his normal pink eyes, shortly followed by his human facade. The kid relaxes then and the others of the mystery skulls team rushed over to Lewis.


End file.
